For the Benefit of the Champion.A Catch to be Perform'd at the New Theatre Covent Garden _ for Admission Apply to the D____ ss_ NB. Gratis to those who wear Large Tails.
Etch'd by T. Rowlandson.
Pubd. and sold by Wm. Humphrey. [n.d. c.1784.]
Fine hand-coloured etching. Plate 248 x 354mm (9¾ x 13½"). With small margins. Very slight centre crease.
The Duchess of Devonshire with two other catch-singers, Fox and North, who are dressed as fat old market-women. The Duchess (left) elegantly dressed, but with her breast uncovered and wearing her election hat with 'Fox' favours, feathers, and fox's brush, puts her left hand on Fox's shoulder, pointing to a tomb-stone beside her (left) inscribed, beneath its skull and cross-bones, 'Here lies poor C--C--L--RAY' [Cecil Wray]. Fox, his left hand grasping a crutch-headed stick, turns to North and sings. North (right), also with a stick, sings. Through the wings peers the anxious-looking, spectacled profile of Burke (right). Three framed pictures decorate the wall behind the performers: 'The fox who had lost his Tail', a tail-less fox looking at four others who are discussing the situation. This is flanked by two oval pictures, 'Fox and Crow' (left), the fox looking up longingly at the crow on a branch, and 'Fox and Grapes' (right), a fox on its hind-legs below a vine-branch.
BM Satires 6591.
[Ref: 52361] £320.00
Pubd. and sold by Wm. Humphrey. [n.d. c.1784.]
Fine hand-coloured etching. Plate 248 x 354mm (9¾ x 13½"). With small margins. Very slight centre crease.
The Duchess of Devonshire with two other catch-singers, Fox and North, who are dressed as fat old market-women. The Duchess (left) elegantly dressed, but with her breast uncovered and wearing her election hat with 'Fox' favours, feathers, and fox's brush, puts her left hand on Fox's shoulder, pointing to a tomb-stone beside her (left) inscribed, beneath its skull and cross-bones, 'Here lies poor C--C--L--RAY' [Cecil Wray]. Fox, his left hand grasping a crutch-headed stick, turns to North and sings. North (right), also with a stick, sings. Through the wings peers the anxious-looking, spectacled profile of Burke (right). Three framed pictures decorate the wall behind the performers: 'The fox who had lost his Tail', a tail-less fox looking at four others who are discussing the situation. This is flanked by two oval pictures, 'Fox and Crow' (left), the fox looking up longingly at the crow on a branch, and 'Fox and Grapes' (right), a fox on its hind-legs below a vine-branch.
BM Satires 6591.
[Ref: 52361] £320.00